Tender You Go
by Beckon
Summary: Those arms that she had been denying herself the comfort of for so long finally closed themselves around her...


_Shut out the world for just one moment…_

Those arms that she had been denying herself the comfort of for so long finally closed themselves around her; drawing and pulling her into the strange warmth of his body that she had long since recognized and identified herself with. This was where she belonged- maybe that was a difficult and incorrect word to use but it seemed to scream that it was the only one possible.

"I'm so sorry."

"Shh… now's not the time for that."

The odd sense of support and assurance in his words flooded her with warmth as he tightened his hold on her; keeping her as close to him as he could humanly do. She could feel his fingertips pressed tightly against her back as though in fear she would fight him again; in fear that she would push him away and deny that connection. At this point, it all seemed blatant and obvious. She was the one who had been blind in the first place, how could she do that to herself? How could she do that to him as well? But with every attempt to form some kind of apology, to form some kind of reason… he only assured her it wasn't necessary, that it wasn't the time.

She didn't know what he meant but it didn't seem fair.

He deserved the chance for her to say something, to admit that she was wrong. And as vain and selfish as he had seemed at first, she would've assumed that he'd be eager to hear her words but… he didn't. He didn't even show the least bit interest in them. All he wanted was to hold her like this. Was this what he wanted? Was this what he was looking for?

Their false façade of comfort and acceptance had been broken down far too many times but now… how many more times would it collapse on top of them? She would've imagined this scene to fall into the same screaming, insanity-driven fits like the other ones but it wasn't. There was some sense of heaviness to it; some sense of reality. Maybe it wasn't a façade, maybe it wasn't fake… maybe it was real.

Maybe they had finally reached that point of renewal.

That point of revival once again.

Slowly, his grip on her loosened before his hands moved to dress the skin of her jawline; fingers carefully tucking themselves behind her ears as he pulled her forward lightly. The soft contact of his lips against her forehead seemed to convince her to slowly close her eyes and settle into the filling embrace that rushed between them.

"I know it hurts…" he started. "That empty pain of being replaced and re-imaged by something greater."

Her fingers lightly curled into the white material that clung to his body as her eyes opened just enough to settle on the single black line that traced down the center of his torso. "I never imagined this could happen; I never imagined that… he would just build another one of me, another clone and… just like that, I never existed in the first place. Was I that bad of a failure?"

"No… you just found a better place."

"Would you ever consider replacing me just like that?"

"Even if I had the proper resources to… I'd throw them away instead; there'd be too much at risk to allow someone such as yourself to get away so easily. He may have made that mistake but I'm not stupid enough to do the same."

It was hard to allow for him to say such things about the man she had previously served; the man she had dedicated her life to and given everything for… but there was no use in defending him anymore. He tossed her aside as though she had never served a purpose before. She just, she needed to let it go now, there was no other option for her at this point. Never before had she ever felt this lost, it was like someone had pulled the ground out from underneath her feet.

"I wish I knew how to react to this."

"It'll come in time." he assured as fingers moved to brush aside her hair. "But the moment I let you go, I can't promise that I'll be here to talk about this as soon as you want me to. The moment I let you go… everything goes back to how it's supposed to be."

Back to where this and them didn't matter, where this paralyzing topic between them didn't exist.

Where everyone could go about their lives without knowing that the lines between their two species had been crossed. Everyone could reside in the comforting matter that their two species were enemies and would remain as such. Because that's what they wanted and she didn't want to interfere with that cycle. They were both clearly aware of the consequences and the dangers in doing this, in continuing this relationship… that's why they couldn't afford getting caught in moments like this; the few times they had nearly been were far from comfort and their inability to properly realign themselves back into a normal setting straight away was always the harshest to bear. Sometimes, during those early mornings, she could feel the way he seemed to enjoy himself by holding her in against him; that same kind of enjoyment burned away when he was forced to ignore her for the following hours of the day; an eerie sense of resentment seemed to course its way between them before it was tossed aside beneath the blanket of night.

Beneath that dark blanket, they could shut out anything.

**A/N: I'm going to attempt to do some small collections of oneshots where I use the little sayings from the Dove chocolates as an inspiration for each couple. Although, I will note, this is my 50th story- which to some is just a stepping stone, but I'm getting there.**


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